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CNN

Would Syria use chemical weapons?

The Russians, who have been staunch allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, have indicated that the use of chemical weapons would be a step too far.

Ban also set out the U.N. position clearly, saying his announcement of a U.N. investigation “should serve as an unequivocal reminder that the use of chemical weapons is a crime against humanity.”
The relative success of the Chemical Weapons Convention has put their possession and use well outside the norm, experts say. This stigma makes it easier for the United States and others to pressure al-Assad on this point.

However, the muted international response when his forces have used a variety of conventional weapons against his people may have emboldened him, said Esfandiary.

“The best way the West can react is to continue to make their ‘red lines’ absolutely clear,” she said. “The danger is if you get to a situation where Assad really has got nothing to lose, then he really won’t care. To put it simply, he won’t use them until the very, very last minute.”

Blowback

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Assad saw what happened to Quadaffi when he lost; hunted down like a dog, wounded and then gang raped before he died. The body was probably desecrated afterwards.
There is also the ominous silence concerning Quadaffi’s family, as not all got away.
Of course Assad will use chemicals if he feels trapped.

Predictably the CNN commenters, who each have the IQ of a piece of lawn furniture, are ranting about…WMDs in Iraq.

look up “curveball” and colin powell for more than enough information wmds to justify briningg blair , cheney and bush to court for fabricating the motive for the iraq war and all the associated mayhem.

This stupidity, despite the fact that in the CNN story itself, they admit that:

Perhaps the most notorious instance is their use by Saddam Hussein’s regime against civilians in the Iraqi Kurdish city of Halabja.

More than 5,000 people died in only 20 minutes and another 10,000 were severely injured in the attack, according to the U.S. State Department.

One reason for the high toll was the way the Iraqi forces deployed their arms, said Patricia Lewis, a fellow at the UK-based think tank Chatham House.

They first used conventional weapons to blow out the windows and doors of the homes where civilians were taking shelter, often in cellars. When they then fired chemical weapons, the toxic gases seeped in and often pooled in the cellars, proving even more deadly, she said.